Doug Jones has become the first Democrat in 25 years to win a US Senate seat for Alabama, after a bitter campaign against Republican Roy Moore. His unexpected victory deals a blow to President Donald Drumpf, who backed Mr Moore, and narrows the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49.
Mr Moore has so far refused to concede, saying "it's not over". He fought a controversial campaign, in which allegations surfaced of sexual misconduct with teenage girls. Mr Moore, a firebrand conservative who has said he believes that homosexual activity should be illegal, has repeatedly denied the claims against him. The contest was for the seat vacated by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions earlier this year.
Oh wow, some half-decent news for once. That's a precious as unicorn tears these days, even if the vote was close and nearly half of Alabama thought "credible candidate" rather than "mad racist paedophile".
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42333712
Outstanding news! I must admit, I'm kind of stunned...I didn't think the South would ever swing that way.
ReplyDeletehttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/x2wE9UpYD0Xci5ER9lOQJBpohm9t7JQjyz41V2I7PpOdnHJkObPG2T83hts3LBzL_Qssz6kZYbOAuH4=s0
ReplyDeleteThe real win? Alabama Supreme Court ordered balloting records preserved. Hopefully no election tampering at the vote count level.
ReplyDeleteHey, that means a large number of the people of Alabama voted against someone /just like them/. 25% liberal if yer lucky, Alabama...
ReplyDeleteTurns out Alabama is more diverse than many (including me, who was born and spent my early years there) imagined. Cities and black voters leaned strongly left, and I suspect (based on a conversation with an otherwise Republican family member) that many women in the redder areas may have quietly refused to vote for Moore, and may well have voted against him, on principle and personal experiences. I am surprised, but delighted.
ReplyDeleteI will sadly report though, that my home county in rural, southeast Alabama, based on the last numbers I saw, voted at least 70% for Moore. I can't say I'm surprised.
ReplyDeleteJ. Steven York I think you're right that a lot of white women may have "voted" simply by not voting, which is hard to capture from the ballot counts and exit polls. Staying home because of disgust at Moore/Trump may be as good as we'll get from firm Republican leaners.
ReplyDeleteI'm inclined to give those non-voters a benefit of the doubt. And I also think that this might be something applicable to 2018 elections. Of course, it's impossible to predict how things are going to go down, but one thing's for sure - Bannon and his ilk are going to double down and double down hard. Moore's not the last deplorable slug they're going to try to foist upon us.
And the "establishment" Republicans, such as they are, will fight back hard...and then flip flop, and then cave...but not after whoever survives the primaries is badly damaged.
Talked to the right-leaning female family member in question today. She volunteered (I try never to ask anyone how they voted) that she had voted for a write-in candidate rather than vote for Moore. She said she would have voted for Doug Jones if "she'd known more about him."
ReplyDeleteShe apparently watched and loved his acceptance speech, and said if she'd heard him talk like that beforehand, she'd have voted for him.
My take on this is that the right-leaning news sources she (and most Alabamians) go to by to default couldn't find anything to hang Jones on, and thus said very little. Jones probably adopted the campaign strategy of mostly laying low and letting Moore hang himself, which seems pretty smart to me. Anyway, to her it just came across as secretive and a little suspicious, but she didn't vote for Moore, and that's all that matters, and she's happy with Jones, and so that's a double win.
This is a fantastic short-term victory, but Jones still is going to have a huge fight to get reelected, and the Republicans almost can't help but find a better candidate next time.
But on the other side, for those who lean left in Alabama (and make no mistake, they DO exist, if very quietly) they have real evidence that their vote has power, that it isn't meaningless, and hopefully they''ll be much more inclined to campaign, roll out support, and vote next time. I think this is especially important when it comes to women and minority voters, who have got to have realistically defeatist until now. I'm sure there will be a lot of national money rolling into the reelection fund too.
But it's a happy, big ol' crack in the block of political crap that Alabama has been locked in since forever, and I have at least some hope that it foreshadows future hope and change for my home state.